whist better than any other person belonging to the club, and yet I always lose." When the production of any author pleased him, the highest encomium he could pass upon it, was thus expressed :-"In truth, it is very excellent, I should not have been ashamed of having been the author of this myself." In the winter of 1776, he ordered a coach from Covent-garden Piazza to the Devil-tavern, at Temple-bar, at which place a weekly club was then held by the literati of the day. When the Doctor was set down, he had a guinea and a shilling in his pocket, and being rather an absent character, he gave the coachman the guinea instead of the shilling. The Doctor repaired to the club-room; the coachman drove away. Being called upon for a subscription, the Doctor threw his shilling upon the table, which he had imagined was a guinea; he soon perceived the mistake, and related the circumstance to the club :-The company laughed, and the Doctor, in a violent rage, rushed out of the room to seek the coachman, but in vain. In the following week, when the club was full, and the Doctor enjoying his bottle, the waiter brought him word that a hackney-coachman wanted to speak to him. After receiving some sarcastic advice from his friends, to be cautious of his commerce with coachmen, he went down stairs, and was astonished to find it was the same individual who had drove him the preceding week :-" I have brought your guinea back, (said the coachman); I know your honour made a mistake; now some scoundrels would have pocketed the mo

ney,

ney, and have said nothing at all about the matter; but that's not my way, your honour : I thank God, if so be I'm poor, I'm honest; it wears well, as a body may say."—" My dear friend, (exclaimed the Doctor) I honour and admire your principle; you will please to wait here a few minutes." Upon which the Doctor marched up stairs, and told the story with all those rapturous blandishments which a poetic mind, on such an occasion, will beget in a good heart. He finally urged them to a subscription, as a proper reward for singular honesty in the lower ranks of life. It was generously complied with, to the amount of fifty shillings. The good, but credulous man, ran with the collection to the descendant of Phæton, poured it into his hat, and after affectionately embracing and blessing him, was returning up stairs to his convivial friends, with that enviable and sublime satisfaction, which every man feels after the performance of a good action: he entered the room with triumph,-his friends welcomed him with a peal of laughter;-alas, it was at the Doctor's expence!--The guinea which the rascal had pretended to return, was a-counterfeit! When the Doctor commenced author, he gained a tolerable subsistence by writing essays for magazines, and other periodical publications. He also became a writer in the Public Ledger, in which his "Citizen of the World," originally appeared, under the title of Chinese Letters. About this time he emerged from very mean lodgings in Green-arbour-court, to Wine-office

court,

court, in Fleet-street; and in 1762, took chambers in the Temple, where he made a more creditable appearance. His reputation continued to increase, and was fully established by the publication of "The Traveller," in the year 1765. In 1768, he commenced dramatic writer, and might, with a small attention to prudence and economy, have placed himself in a state above dependence. He is said to

have acquired in one year, no less than 18001: and the advantages arising from his literary productions were very considerable for many years before his death. But these were rendered useless, by an improvident liberality, which prevented his distinguishing, properly, the objects of his generosity, and an unhappy attachment to gaming, with the arts of which he was very little acquainted. He, therefore, found himself, at times, as much embarrassed in his circumstances, as when his income was in its lowest and most precarious state.

One

instance of his generosity, or rather his profu sion, we shall just mention, as it manifests the goodness of his heart, though it demonstrates his want of discrimination, Passing along Fleet-street, in company with a friend, a female beggar accosted him, soliciting alms: the Doctor, without hesitation, gave her a shilling. His friend, reproved him for his conduct, al-' ledging, that he knew the woman, and that she would instantly get intoxicated, in consequence of his misapplied bounty. "If it makes her happy in any way (replied the Doctor), my end is answered." Besides the Tra

0 2

veller

veller above-mentioned, Goldsmith wrote "The Deserted Village; The Vicar of Wakefield; The Good-natured Man, a comedy; She Stoops to Conquer, a comedy; &c. The simplicity of his character, the integrity of his heart, and the merit of his productions procured him many friends. But though simple, honest, humane, and generous, he was irritable, passionate, peevish, and sullen; and he has been so much under the influence of spleen, that he has been said to have "often left a party of convivial friends abruptly, in the evening, in order to go home and brood over his misfortunes." He had been for some years, afflicted, at different times, with a violent strangury, which contributed to embitter the latter part of his life; and which, united with the vexation he suffered upon other occasions, brought on a kind of habitual despondency. In this condition, he was attacked by a nervous fever, which being improperly treated, terminated in his dissolution, on the 4th of April 1774, in the 45th year of his age. His remains were deposited in the burial-ground belonging to the Temple, and a monument has since been erected to his memory in Westminster-abbey, with an elegant epitaph, written by his friend Dr. Johnson.

GORDON, (The Hon. GEORGE) commonly called LORD GEORGE GOR DON, a man of a restless spirit, was the son of Cosmo George, Duke of Gordon, and born in 1750. He entered into the navy when young, but quitted it during the American war, in consequence of

an

an altercation with Lord Sandwich relative to promotion. He afterwards represented the borough of Ludgershall in parliament, and distinguished himself by some strange eccentric speeches against the king and his ministers. As he animadverted with great freedom, and sometimes with great humour, on the proceedings of both sides of the house, it was usual at that period to say, that there were three parties in parliament," the Ministry, the Opposition, and Lord George Gordon." But what chiefly brought him into notice, was his opposition to the bill for granting further toleration to Roman catholics.

His intemperance on this occasion proved the cause of the shameful riots in 1780, by his heading a popular association to oppose the measure. For this extraordinary procedure, Lord George was tried on a charge of high treason, but acquitted, on the ground that his intententions in assembling the people were not traiterous and malicious. In May, 1786, he was excommunicated by the archbishop of Canterbury for contempt of court, in not appearing as a witness to a cause. In January, 1788, he was found guilty of publishing a libel on the French ambassador and queen, on which he fled to Holland. Some time after he returned to England, and was taken in the disguise of a Jew, which profession he had adopted, and committed to Newgate. In July, 1789, he presented a petition to the National Assembly of France, for its interference in his behalf; but Lord Grenville informed the French ambassador that such interference could not be admitted. From this 03

time